The ambitious Water Plan 2050, aimed at transforming Fiji’s water infrastructure, will require an estimated $8.7 billion.

Minister for Public Works, Ro Filipe Tuisawau, addressed this significant financial requirement during the Fiji National Water Committee Stakeholders Workshop.

Ro Filipe emphasized the critical need for collaboration with the Water Authority of Fiji, highlighting the efforts at various levels – from political leadership to strategic frameworks within the ministry.

He says one of the weaknesses in ministries is the lack of capacity to enable more efficient and effective access to financing, a consequence of the previous government’s approach, where most financing efforts were centralized within one person and one ministry.

He explains that adjustments have been made to decentralize and enhance the capacity of various ministries, ensuring that those directly involved in project implementation and possessing technical and ground-level knowledge are more engaged in the financing processes.

“So that is something we had to readjust so that the ministries where the implementation is done and where the technical knowledge and also the knowledge about the ground level situation were not really directly involved.”

Ro Filipe outlined the recent structural changes within the ministry, designed to enable better project formulation in close consultation with the Water Authority of Fiji, the Ministry of Rural Development, and other relevant ministries.

These changes aim to improve the organization’s efficiency in accessing necessary financing.

He acknowledged the difficulty in raising the $8.7 billion required for the Water Plan 2050 locally, stressing the importance of external financing.